Plastic tubing is widely used for intravenous feeding of fluids and medication and in such procedures, the tubing comes into contact with the patient's skin. After a period of time such contact often causes pressure sores or chafing. Similarly, bags of plastic for colostomies and incontinence come into contact with a patient's skin and after a period of relative movement can cause chafing and discomfort and can lead to growth of bacteria. Another example of patient care accessories which can cause chafing are identification bands or bracelets. With these and other medical devices, it is desirable to avoid chafing by providing a guard or barrier between the device and the skin of the patient and a means for applying powder such as corn starch to avoid friction or other medication including zinc oxide or calcium undecylenate to reduce the effect of irritants.
It is an object of the invention to provide a means for isolating a medical device such as plastic tubing or bags from the skin of a patient to avoid chafing and pressure sores.
Another object of the invention is to provide a chafe guard which can be attached to selected locations on patient care devices which otherwise may come into direct contact with the skin of a patient.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a chafe guard or skin protector which prevents a medical or patient care device from coming into direct contact with the patients skin and which also can be used as an applicator for medicated powder to avoid friction and assist in treating or avoiding chafing of the skin.